Lost Sound on iMac

Question

Lost Sound on iMac

Hello,

Wonder if anyone can help with a problem we're experiencing.

My friend's iMac G5 appears to have lost sound output through the speakers. Start up beep, i-tunes, other progs - nothing works.

Conversely, if headphones are plugged in, all of the above sounds can be heard.

We've done everything I can think of - repaired disk permissions, checked all volume controls etc - but still no luck.

Am I right that this is likely to be a hardware problem? Any way to test this?

Many thanks in advance for any help anybody can give.

iMac G5

Posted on Jul 1, 2006 3:59 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 1, 2006 4:05 AM in response to Simon Stephenson

Ps. Have also checked the volume channel things and they seem to be correct at 44.1.

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Answer 2

JMEH

Level 4

2,482 points

Jul 1, 2006 5:11 AM in response to Simon Stephenson

Hi Simon - You can try opening GarageBand, which seems to reset audio properties to default settings... Good luck, Rick

iMac G5 iSight 20" - 30G iPOD - HP Pav 15" WS and Toshiba Sat 17" WS Mac OS X (10.4.6) Canon 20D & A620

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Answer 3

Jul 1, 2006 8:18 AM in response to JMEH

Also try opening Audio Midi (in Utilities), and checking that the box labeled Audio Output - Format is set at 44100.0 hz. If it is set at a different number, you can lose sound as well.

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Answer 4

Jul 1, 2006 4:19 PM in response to Simon Stephenson

Hello Rick and the dude.

Thanks very much for your replies. We tried both things but the computer alas remains mute. Fortunately it is still under warranty, so back to apple it now goes.

Thanks again for your help.

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Answer 5

Jul 1, 2006 5:40 PM in response to Simon Stephenson

Couple more thoughts: did you check System Preferences>International Preferences: Sound, to see if anything has changed there? Also, and I'm sure you checked, but there is a check box that says Mute by the Output slider in the System Preferences>Sounds Pref. Unchecked? Did you try throwing out preferences from your Home Library>Preferences? Try Garageband and Midi. I also found one called com.apple.soundpref.plist Try that? Also toss com.apple.systemspref. Toss 'em and then open the apps and reset them if needed, or stick them in a folder and place in Trash while checking, and then replace them. In your Computer>Library>Preferences there is one called com.apple.audio.Device.Settings.plist. Worth a try. Once in a while I lose sound to Finder objects like Trash, and a Restart brings them back. Good luck.

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Answer 6

Jul 2, 2006 3:25 AM in response to The Dude Abides

Thanks a lot dude. That's a big help. We worked through everything you suggested, but unfortunately we still couldn't get any sound through the main speakers. As the headphones still work, I'm definitely coming down on the side of this being a hardware problem, although the hardware check disk didn't identify anything.
Will post back if Apple come up with anything interesting.

Thank you very much again.

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